Now and Then
by lnbear2004
Summary: Who is Marlene Mckinnon? Who was the death eater, Travers, who killed her and her family one late December night? No story is ever as simple as it looks.


Have you ever wondered about the stories we don't here? The people who live and die without changing the world? The year is 1972, Marlene Mckinnon is 16 years old as of yesterday. It is early morning.

An owl was knocking on the window with it's beak. Marlene stirred, tossing and turning, and trying to block out the noise that was disturbing her peace. She hadn't been sleeping well, and she had been having such an amazing dream. She loved the warmth of her blankets contrasting with the cold December air.

"You two lazy asses can't even get up to get the fucking bird… stupid bird…." Daphne mumbled, half-asleep, shuffling out of bed. Marlene heard her wrench open the window, letting in a blast of cold air. "C'mon, bird, lemme read your note, isn't that what you came for? Who the fuck sends notes at fucking five am, wakes me up…"

There was a pause as Daphne read the note. "I hate you, Marlene!" Marlene stiffened at the sound of her name, now she was fully awake. She wondered whether to say anything. "It's from Travers, here!" Daphne threw a heavy envelope onto her blanket. "Slut." She murmured before going back to bed. Almost as soon as she had closed her eyes, her snores echoed through the room.

Marlene opened her eyes slowly, rubbing them to clear her vision. She sat up in bed and grabbed the envelope. The outside read: Marly McKinnon, 4th year dormitory, Ravenclaw Tower, the bed on the left, nearest the door.

Marlene smiled. Only one person in the entire world called her "Marly". Everyone else just referred to her as "hey you" or "Marlene". She had really always hated the name Marlene, it didn't really feel like it fit properly at all. Without even knowing it, he must have picked up on that at the very beginning, because he never, ever called her Marlene.

She opened the thin, bleach-white paper flap of the envelope, and extracted a note.

Marly,

Meet me at the shop one past Gladrags Wizardwear. 7 o'clock. Don't be late.

Travers

"You ready?" Travers asked, holding onto Marly's hand loosely, "Don't let go."

Marlene nodded. Travers looked forward, without even glancing at Marly's face for response. He lead to the doorstep of the house. "Stay." He commanded. Marly waited patiently as he walked into the dark entrance way and closed the door behind him.

The December wind slapped her face and a light drizzle of rain began the fall. She stood perfectly still, aware of every movement around her. She knew that if anyone tried to enter the house, she would have to somehow call the alarm and make sure that whoever was in there got out before they were found. She did not care when droplets of rain began to run down her back and into her sneakers. Nor did the mice scurrying about near her feet bother her. She had a mission to complete, a days worth of adventure lay ahead of her. Who knew when she would next see Travers? Perhaps today would have to last her a week or a month. Then again, he might just be around everyday until Christmas. One never knew what might happen with Travers. Marlene hoped he would come outside soon, the sun was down now and she didn't enjoy Hogsmeade nearly as much in the dark, especially when she was alone.

Eventually, after about an hour or so – Marlene's watch only told the time on Venus, and she hadn't felt like calculating it – Travers reappeared, smirking. Marly knew to ask no question of what had transpired, and yet she always wanted to know so badly. She looked expectantly to Travers, who seemed to have forgotten about her, and was walking very briskly in the direction of the station. Marly hurried to keep up.

"Your much too slow for me," Travers remarked, watching her breathlessly run after him, "You really ought to get in shape, Marly. Can't you move a bit faster, I don't have all the time in the world. I have places to be, Marly."

Marly loved it when he called her by name. She was so used to being nameless, faceless, that she shivered just to hear him say "Marly". It didn't matter that he critised her. He just didn't realize that he was hurting her. She was walking as fast as she could, jogging really, to keep the same pace as him. She could feel blood and bile rising in throat, and the air stung her lips as she pulled in sharp gasps. She really ought to shape up, perhaps she should join the 4th year Quittich class.

Travers slowed as they reached the station, he walked idly along the tracks until he decided that one particular part of track was good enough to sit down on. Travers knelt onto the stones and Marly followed suit. They always went somewhere different, she noted. She wondered if Travers just liked diversity, or if there was a reason for this lack of repetition. Now he seemed to be searching through his dragon-skin jacket for something. Marly watched curiously as he found a little zip-lock bag filled with three violet bubbles.

"To graduating and getting out of this hellhole." Travers toasted, holding up the bag and touching it to Marly's nose. Marly smiled. It was almost as if he had touched her. She tried not to think about what he meant, though. She was depressed that everything would end after this year. It had to, Travers was graduating. How could a relationship like that continue? People already thought their age difference was strange.

Travers cautiously extracted one of the bubbles. It seemed to bounce in joy at having been picked first. He put Marly's hand on his knee and balanced the bubble on the back of her hand. With his wand, he prodded it, and it burst into purple-ish powder assembled in six straight lines. Saying some charm under his breath, he moved three of the lines onto his hand, and left Marly with the remaining three.

The next morning all Marlene had to remember the night were little stone-shaped bruises on her back, where she had been pushed particularly hard into the gravel, when Travis decided that it was about time to de-flower her. She didn't mind the bruises, she wore them like secret badges, poking them to keep them blue for as long as they would stay.

"Jorkins, Bertha." Proffessor Dippet handed Bertha a tiny card bearing only her name. Bertha beamed, walking backed down the steps from the podium, tripped, stood up and returned to her seat. Marlene knew the cards would enlarge themselves to reveal all the accomplishments of the graduate while they were at Hogwarts, and a few pictures of them and their friends. She wished she could read each of them. "…Lestrange, Rastaban…" That was on of Travers' friends. Marlene had never actually spoken to him, but Travers had mentioned him once in passing, and when she saw him, they were generally together. "…Prewet, Molly…" Marlene had genuinely liked Molly until Travers had told her that she was in fact very much a know-it-all sort. The steriotype didn't seem to fit her, but Marlene trusted Travers, he had never lied to her. "…Ian, Travers…" And there he was, looking thoroughly unhappy to be in the broad daylight zigzagging down the aisle back to his seat. He had been drinking since midnight last night and had only taken a break for the graduation ceremonly.

Finally, after "Weasly, Arthur" graduated, everyone got up and congregated. Marlene spotted Travers walking away from the ceremony with his arm slung over Bertha's shoulder. Marlene ran to catch up with them, just to see his face. She had been exercising recently and between their slow pace and her quick one, it only took her seconds to position herself in front of him. She grinned at him.

"Congradulations!"

Bertha squinted, "do I know you?"

Right, Marlene had forgotten the rule about not talking to Travers in public. But, after all, it was possibly the last time she would ever see him, wouldn't he at least kiss her. "Probably not." Answered Marlene, downtrodden, and trudging away. She could hear Bertha talking to Travis about her in the distance.

"Who was that? Do _you_ know her?"

"She seems familiar."

"Just some girl you hooked up with or something."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure she gave me head too."

"Slut."

Marlene ran, as fast as she could, only letting the tears run once she was safely locked away the bathroom adjacent to her dormitory. She was flushed and sweaty. How could she have embarrassed herself like that? It was understandable that Travis would hate her after this, now she would never see him again. He would never bother. She sat on the toilet seat and rested her head in her hands. Someone knocked on the door. "Marly, are you in there?" It was a girl's voice. What girl might call her Marly. "Your friend Daphne let me in, she said she had seen you had run up here."

Marly opened the door. A girl form her year, Lily was leaning on the door frame. "Someone sent a message for you… what's the matter?" Marly wiped her eyes and the girl hugged her.

"Nothing, never mind. May I have my message?" the girl handed her an envelope and she and Marky sat on the marble floor of the bathroom.

Marly McKinnon

4th year dormitory bathroom

Ravenclaw Tower

Hogwarts

England

Marly,

Don't ever do that again. Meet me on the train. 2 o'clock. Compartment 28. Don't be late.

Travers

Marly sniffled "He's angry at me."

"Who's angry?" Lily asked, genuinely interested.

"A boy. I like him."

Lily didn't press it. "Why's he angry?"

"I did something I wasn't supposed to."

Lily sighed and rubbed her hand on Marly's shoulder. "Don't worry about, I'm sure everything will turn out all right. Hey, tell you what, the train leaves in an hour, do you want to come sit with me?"

Marly scowled.

"What's the matter?" Lily asked, confused.

"Who else are you going to sit with?"

"Just me and a couple of my girl friends."

This answer was satisfactory for Marly. She didn't like being around most boys. Girls generally left her alone. She could sit and listen in on their conversation. If there were boys, they would stare at her, and tease her.

"Alright."

_Now it is the year 1986. Marlene is twenty-seven. She lives with her husband, Oliver. He is a pale skinned and shy and a year older than her. He works as a junior reporter for the Daily Prophet. Marlene is a bookkeeper in Terrortours, the travel agency next door to her husbands shop and a member of the Order of the Pheonix. They are fond of each other, but they do genuinely love the other. They have no children, Marlene is infertile. Occasionally, when she is counting inventory, or calculating the advantages of adding a "Zombie Trail" to the "Forest Package", her mind wanders to the boy she once loved. And every few years, she leaves for a week or two and no one can trace her. _

"Hello? Anyone home? Package for Marlene Mckinnon?" Someone was knocking on the door.

"Coming!" Marlene yelled from the dining room. She opened the door. A man in a blue uniform bearing a package handed her a slip of paper.

"Are you Marlene McKinnon?" she nodded, "Sign here please." Marlene signed the slip and handed it back to the man.

Once the man had closed the door, Marlene began to feverishly tear it open, she had a good feeling about today, she had had the feeling since she had woken up. It was hard to get the duct tape off, but she used to her teeth, and managed. Inside were hundreds of packing peanuts. She dug through them, throwing Styrofoam all over the carpet.

"Marlene? Who was that at the door?" Oliver called from the dining room.

"I'll be right there, Oliver, just give me a second by myself, will you?" Marlene shouted back.

At the very bottom of the box was a letter in a black envelope. It was addressed in red ink: Marly McKinnon

England

London

Diagon alley

The living room

Marly didn't dare breathe, she hadn't gotten one of these in years, four years five months, and sixteen days, in fact. She opened it. She would need to get out of here quickly, if the letter called for it, and Oliver couldn't see it. Marly would kill him if he knew she had never stopped her – could you even call it a fling – with (could you even call him a boyfriend).

Marly,

Meet me. Your parent's house. Don't bring anything.

Travers

Marly wanted to scream in excitement. She loved it when he called her "Marly". She took her wand out of her pocket and pointed it at herself. "To mum and dad's house." She blinked and she was standing outside of an apartment building in the middle of London. It was December, and even though it was early, it was already dark out. She leaned against the brick wall, she could wait awhile. She didn't bother wondering why he had chosen her parents house. He always chose strange places to meet.

"Marly." The voice interrupted her thoughts. Travers was dressed in silk black robes. "I've got a secret to tell you."

Marly smiled. Tonight was special, it was about to become the most important night of her life. "Yes?" She knew it was safe to talk openly with him tonight.

"I want to be with you forever. I want all of you, Marly."

Marly shivered. "I love you."

Travers pushed her against the wall and kissed her. She felt feverish. There was a something cold by her neck. "Goodnight, Marly. Avada Kedavra."

Travers kissed her corpse one more time. "You slut." He had a job to finish.

"Marlene? Honey?" Oliver wandered out. He found a mess of packing peanuts, a box and a letter on top. He scanned it quickly. "Shit."

Marlene McKinnon and her parents died last night in Mr. and Mrs. McKinnon's flat in London. They were not tortured, but quickly killed. Strangely, a Death Eater, Ian Travers was found dead next to Marlene and her parents. His cause of death is unknown.


End file.
